Canoes must have their racing number displayed on the right front of canoe

Canoes must have a canvas racing cover

Crew Requirements:

Open, Masters 40+, Unlimited & Jrs crews consist of ten (10) paddlers

Masters 50+, 55+, & 60+ crews consist of twelve (12) paddlers

There is no permit for canoe trailers to park at Kaimana Beach Park

Escort boats may NOT come in channel at Outrigger Canoe Club

Your club is responsible for removing all tires and rubbish from rigging site to avoid a fine

Race History:

The George Dad Center Memorial Canoe Race was the first womens long distance outrigger canoe
race in the world. It has been sponsored by the Outrigger Canoe Club since
1974. The race is usually held on the fourth Sunday of August each year as part
of the Oahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association Long Distance season.

The race is named for
George Dad Center, Outriggers long-time swimming coach, Club Captain,
paddler and steersman, who was a strong proponent of women athletes and coached
the first womens crew in the 1933 Kona races. He was considered by most to be
the father of local canoe racing. There had been few formal canoe races in
Hawaii during the 1920s and early 1930s and the 1933 Kona races were an attempt
to revitalize racing again.

The Dad Center race
was started by Outrigger Canoe Club coaches Tom Conner, Mark Buck and Archie
Kaaua who believed their girls crew was capable of races longer than the
one-mile they were currently racing during the regatta season. While men had
been crossing the Kaiwi Channel for 20 years, many felt women wouldnt be able
to make water changes or wouldnt be strong enough to paddle such a long race.

The ladies proved the
naysayers wrong and have since gone on to conquer the Kaiwi Channel, and other
long-distance races.

The first Dad Center
race was 10 miles long from Hawaii Kais Maunalua Bay to the Outriggers Beach
at Diamond Head. Six nine-woman crews entered that first year and the Outrigger
women easily completed the course in 1 hour 21 minutes and 6 seconds, just
ahead of Healani Canoe Club, Waikiki Surf Club, Kailua Canoe Club, Lanikai
Canoe Club and Hui Nalu Canoe Club.

The early races were
in koa canoes, with a fiberglass division added in 1982. In 1989 a Masters
Division was added. In 1999, the crew size was changed from nine to ten
paddlers as all other long distance races leading up to the Molokai race had
ten member crews. In 2001, to reflect the changing demographic of paddling, the
Masters Division was changed to Masters 35 and Masters 45 divisions. In 2004 a
Youth 18 & Under Division was added. In 2005, the Masters Divisions were
changed to Masters 40 and Masters 50, and the Masters 50 were allowed a crew
size of 12 paddlers. In 2014, a Masters 55 Division was added and allowed a
crew size of 12 paddlers.

An average of 50 crews
enter the race each year from Hawaii, as well as California.

The race has been held
every year since 1974, except 1994, when the race officials opted to cancel the
race for safety reasons due to 8-12-foot surf and winds of 25-30 knots. The
course has been lengthened several times to its current distance of 25 miles
from Kailua Beach Park to the OCC Beach.

There are four
perpetual trophies for the race: one for the first crew to finish; one for the
first koa canoe to finish; one for the first junior crew to finish, and one for
the winning masters crews.

George D. Dad Center

No history of the
Outrigger Canoe Club would be complete without inclusion of the name of George
David Dad Center. He was one of the men who made the Club what it is today.
He was a leader and a teacher. But to many of the boys and girls who later matured
into Olympic champions, business leaders, and Club stalwarts, he was
affectionately known as Dad.

Coach, Club Captain,
Director and friend of the youth of our Club, he encouraged physical fitness,
team effort, sportsmanship and loyalty in all. Although most often known
as a swimming coach, he was thought by many to be the "father" of canoe racing as he tried to revive the sport in the 1930s.

Dad was born at
Kipahulu (Maui) on Christmas Day in 1886 during the reign of King Kalakaua. On
the death of Kalakaua, Dad became a subject of Queen Liliuokalani. Next, a
citizen of the Provisional Government and Republic of Hawaii with Sanford
Ballard Dole as President. The American Flag went up over Hawaii in July of
1898 and Dad became a citizen of the United States and the Territory of
Hawaii.

Educated in Hawaii and
on the Mainland Dad distinguished himself as a school boy athlete in many
sports. In his active athletic days Dad represented the Myrtle Boat Club in
swimming, rowing and other sports. During the first half of the 20th century Dad was a swimmer, surfboarder, outrigger canoe paddler, canoe sailor, body surfer,
fisherman, oarsman, yachtsman, volleyball player, golfer, basketball player,
soccer player, track and field man, football player and expert participant in
other athletic activities.

Dad missed becoming
a charter member of the Outrigger Canoe Club by only a few weeks after it came
into being in May of 1908, joining in June 1908. His first athletic endeavor
for the Outrigger Canoe Club was in July 1908 in the Big Surf Contest (board)
as the U. S. Atlantic Great White Fleet looked on.

To even list the
contests in which Dad Center represented the Outrigger Canoe Club and the
Myrtle Boat Club would cover pages. He was a familiar figure in early Regatta
Days in Honolulu Harbor and at Pearl Harbor when he rowed for the Myrtles; but
he was even better known later as a representative of the Outrigger Club in
many sports, particularly in surfing events sponsored by the Club.

OCC Canoe Racing Team
circa 1909

As early as Regatta
Day of 1907 Dad was stroke of the Myrtle Freshman Crew which defeated
Healani. On Regatta Day of 1909, Dad swung an efficient paddle (with
Rusty Brown, Harry Steiner, Willy Knut Cottrell, Edmund Melanphy and Vincent Zen Genoves), in Prince Kuhios canoe, as it won the six-paddle
canoe contest for the Outrigger Canoe Club. And while Dad had many early
athletic thrills, one of his greatest was to captain the Maile-Ilima Soccer
Team which won the championship of the Hawaiian Association Football League in
1909.

Babe Dowsett, Miss
Beatrice, Dad Center, Helen Martin

Dad Center coached
swimming teams as early as 1912 when Duke Kahanamoku went to the Olympics to
return to Hawaii a world champion. Others like Sam, David and Sargent
Kahanamoku, Buster Crabbe, Gay Harris and Mariechen Wehselau Jackson followed
in Dukes footsteps.

Although his interest
was primarily in swimming, outrigger canoeing was his personal love, and many a
day he spent taking youngsters, tourists and all who could wield a paddle out
to the surf in his koa canoe Miss Veedol.

Dad represented the
Club in about every sport it took part in. Captain, coach, active-athlete,
manager and adviser, Dad served on the Board of Directors of the Outrigger
Canoe Club for many years. He was as much a part of Waikiki and the Outrigger
as is the beach itself.